Lamia
Lamia are predatory, carnivorous, sentient inhabitants of the world of Enterrisö. They live in jungles, forests, and the plains of the world, and come in two subspecies: venomous and constrictors. The two species are superficially identical, the difference being in how they kill their prey. Venomous Lamia kill through a single, brutal strike that injects venom from specialized canines, and constrictors use their powerful tail muscles to crush their prey to death. Culture Lamia are generally organized into societies known as Sarasi. The Sarasi have a council of elders who represent the major aspects of Lamia society. The oldest warrior, hunter, orator, and crafts-Lamia are all on this council, and they decide the path of the Sarasi. Their rule is not absolute, as every choice they make is put to a vote, and a majority can overturn the council's choice. Lamia value self-suffiency, being able to live on one's own, and so their society tends to emphasize the individual over the group. However, by that same token, many Lamia also realize the important of cooperation. Therefore, while a hunter may hunt alone, or a crafts-Lamia may work alone, the hunter will still bring their quarry back to the Sarasi, and the crafts-Lamia will still make things for the Sasari as a whole to use. The only activities that are consistently done in a group by the Lamia are festivals and warfare. They have several festivals throughout the year, the most notable of them being the Winter Solstice, in which the Lamia celebrate the death of the old year and the birth of the new one. This is marked with feasts and celebration, often lasting two or three days. Some particularly large or wealthy communities have celebrations that last nearly a week. Religion Unless they are in other communities that worship other gods, the Lamia tend to be a largely spiritualist people. Their belief is that all nature is interconnected, and that everything that you do and everything that is done to you is part of nature's cycles. Therefore, every life taken is merely a part of a cycle that will eventually take your life, and every action done is an action that will eventually be done to you. They have no dedicated gods, instead believing in a sort of energy that permeates the entirety of existence, giving life and spirit to everything that lives. Biology Lamia common traits: All have a lower body that is of a snake, which is 1.5-2.5 times the length they would be if a proportional human. Therefore, if a Lamia has 3.25 feet of human torso (thus, being equal to a 6.6 foot tall man), their snake portion will be 11.4 feet to 16.5 feet long. The colouration of Lamia ranges from the jungle's brilliant and colourful hues to the plain's ruddy browns. Their scales are warm to the touch, as they are warm-blooded animals. Lamia lay eggs which hatch after 8 month to a year, and the young feed on mother's milk for only a few weeks before they can support their own heads and are able to feed themselves on small animals and whatever the rest of the group catches. However, Lamia can only lay eggs during breeding cycles, which occur around once every 3-5 years, and last an entire year. Therefore, Lamia only have children once every 3-5 years, if that. The average Lamia is not of reproductive age until they reach 20. Therefore, Lamia communities tend to be small in comparison to other races, due to their low reproductive rate. Lamia females have very small breasts, to the point of appearing totally flatchested in many cases, as a result of this very low reproductive rate and the very short amount of time the young must be on the mother's milk. Category:Race Category:Lamia